The present invention relates to the field of data and, more particularly, to automated word completion systems for composing a text message.
During recent years, communication through the use of text messages has experienced dramatic growth in popularity and use. The advantage of text message communications that has augmented this growth is the availability of quick and easy communication between widely disparate individuals and networks. The communication may be between a pair of friends, relatives or coworkers, and also between strangers and groups of strangers. The text messages may be used also for commercial purposes such as ordering services, voting, etc.
The text communication may be done over the Internet using instant messages and chat rooms, via cellular telephone using Short Message Service (SMS), or via digital TV using interactive television services, etc.
A problem with using text message communication via cellular telephone, interactive TV, palm computers, etc. is that those devices are frequently difficult to use for text entry. Generally, those devices have space-limited keyboards (typically a 0-9 numeric keypad plus several additional function keys). Entering a text message via a space-limited keyboard is often confusing and difficult.
There are several methods that face the challenge of accelerating text communication via cellular or interactive TV. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,771 discloses a method for creating a message to a chat room over interactive TV. The method offers a limited number of predetermined responses to the television or video content. The predetermined responses are prepared in advance by the user or may be standardized responses that are broadcast to many user interface devices. The user can select the appropriate predetermined message. Having the predetermined responses available allows for interactive communication without the need for a keyboard to type the message.
Another method is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/987,218 having the publication number US2003/0090518. This application discloses a method for automatically forwarding and replying with a short message. By using this method, a local user can select a message from one of a plurality of pre-established reply messages. The user may modify the selected message or send it as is. Moreover, a structuralized, modularized and hierarchy menu is provided to the local user in order to define a group of pre-established reply messages that may fit the user's needs.
However, the above-described methods offer limited communication because the user is limited to pre-established and/or predetermined reply messages, and the user cannot create his preferred message.
There are some methods for accelerating the entry of text data by offering automatic or assisted word completion, such as the methods that are disclosed in patents numbers U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,405,060, 6,377,965, or 4,374,625. The methods described in these patents can be divided into two groups depending on the type of thesaurus that is used for offering a list of words. The thesaurus that is used in the first group is unique for each user and is created by the user. This thesaurus is updated from time to time according to the usage of the words by the user. This group of methods is limited to the past experience of the user and cannot benefit from the usage and the experience of other users.
The other group of methods uses a thesaurus that is prepared in advance by a third party. This thesaurus may be based on a large number of users and may offer words that were not used by the user himself. However, the thesaurus utilized in these methods is fixed and is not updated from time to time.
Moreover, a common device with a limited-space keyboard may have limited free storage place, since its main application is other than text communication, and a storage location for a large thesaurus is not one of its objectives. For example, a cellular phone is used mainly for audio communication; a digital receiver or a TV set-box usually is used for receiving and processing digital TV signals, etc.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a new method of accelerating the input of text messages in a device with a space-limited keyboard and limited storage capabilities, a method that may load, upon need, a dynamically and continuously updated thesaurus with the most likelihood words to be tapped by a user during the current application.